Be sure to give each low its time, but don’t dwell on any one low for too long. Some children, if they are particularly tired and sensitive, may not be able to move beyond their lows to experience the help that God and your family are offering to them.

Carrie Hosack, a youth and family ministry director at her church in eastern Ohio, has been doing highs and lows for years with her children. This former biology and English teacher-turned-mother-turned-youthspecialist offers a word of warning:

"We had to stop doing “lows” in our house for a season until we figured out some stuff. My son at age 9 sunk into a little depression during FAITH5 when it was time to remember the low of the day. We could even see the transition on his face as he went from high to low, and then slowly spiral down into the low. He went to bed in tears not long after we started. We’d talk, pray, reassure, comfort and feel helpless. Night after night it was the same low and the same drop. After much frustration, we finally figured out that he was tired at the end of the day, and his low seemed so overwhelming to his tired little brain that he fell apart. When he experienced so much emotion around the same issue every night, he assumed it was a big problem he couldn’t fix, and it just got bigger. So, we’ve done a couple of things: First, I started to ask him his highs and lows in an earlier part of the day. Second, we now call our highs “shining stars” and our lows “silver linings.” We share lows with the intent of looking for some good God might be bringing out of the bad situation. Third, we share silver linings so that we can finish on a high."

Now that the kids have gotten older, Carrie says things have settled down a bit. They do FAITH5 every night at 9:00 PM exactly: “It’s a fun race to the finish as the kids run around the house to make it on the couch exactly three seconds before 9:01!”